


Midnight Fears

by Elleth, Kiraly



Category: Stand Still Stay Silent
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Rumors
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-19
Updated: 2017-08-19
Packaged: 2018-12-17 11:35:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 823
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11850741
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elleth/pseuds/Elleth, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kiraly/pseuds/Kiraly
Summary: Even with Reynir right there to reassure him, Onni can't help worrying sometimes.





	Midnight Fears

**Author's Note:**

> Another collaborative effort between Elleth and myself! (In case it wasn't obvious, basically we've each been starting a story and then swapping notebooks back and forth until it's finished, then whoever started it types it up and posts it). This time we used IdleLeaves' [SSSS prompt generator](http://idleleaves.elementfx.com/ssssmachine.html) to start us off, so the prompt for this was:  
> Reynir/Onni  
> "more so than usual"  
> "rumors"  
> "behind closed doors"

“You’re worrying about something,” Reynir said, propping himself up on one elbow to look down at Onni. “What’s wrong?”

Onni carefully unclenched his fingers and forced himself to relax. “According to you, I’m always worried,” he said. The attempt at a joke fell flat. “It’s nothing.”

“It’s not  _ nothing.  _ If you’re bothered by it, I want to know,” Reynir said. He shook the curtain of unbound hair out of his way and reached to brush errant strands back from Onni’s forehead. The touch soothed, but couldn’t undo the concerned wrinkles in Onni’s brow.

“It’s just—” he began, not really sure how to say it, “People are talking.”

“About?” Reynir wasn’t one to listen to gossip—even in places where he spoke the language, he always had to ask for himself. Which was fine by Onni, usually. But it made it hard, when he was already more worked up than usual, to explain what was wrong.

“Keuruu is a small place,” Onni yielded eventually, “There isn’t much going on, so people will seize on any distraction to keep themselves entertained.” And the arrival of an attractive foreigner was plenty of cause for gossip. “I had hoped we could avoid this,” he added, after a heavy pause. “Keep it behind closed doors. But you are not exactly an eyesore,” he said at last.

“Oh! So, ah, they’re talking about...me?” Reynir’s eyebrows rose, and his freckled face turned pinkish. “It’s so nice of you to be concerned for my sake, but I...really don’t mind?” He followed up the touch of fingertips with his lips, resting them on Onni’s forehead for a moment, and expected the worried frown to ease a little more. It did not.

“You don’t understand,” Onni replied, getting up and drawing out of Reynir’s hold. “You should not have come to Finland just to visit me—that they let you in at all just for that purpose is strange. Usually people in Keuruu have good reasons to be here.”

Reynir’s face fell, but he managed a smile regardless. “You  _ are  _ a good reason, at least to me! It’s okay if you don’t feel that way—or, no, it isn’t really, but it’s fine if you’re okay with it,” he wavered for a moment. “But you’re definitely a good reason. And I don’t care what anyone else says.” His face set in a decisive pout while Onni began pacing up and down the bit of bedroom floor that wasn’t occupied by Reynir’s mattress.

“I just don’t want them to think—that you—” Onni shook his head. “What if they ask you to leave?”

Reynir stood and intercepted Onni in his pacing. “Then I’ll pretend not to understand Finnish.”

“You  _ don’t  _ understand Finnish,” Onni said. He tried to sidestep out of Reynir’s way, but Reynir stepped with him and caught him by the shoulders.

“Perfect! I won’t have to lie, then,” Reynir said. He leaned closer. “Are you sure that’s all it is? Just the rumors getting to you?” He lowered his gaze. “If it’s something else, something about me, you only have to say—”

“No!” Onni tipped Reynir’s chin up so he could look into his eyes. “No, I swear—I  _ do  _ want you. Even if I can’t always understand why you would want  _ me.”  _

They were back on familiar ground with this one. Reynir pulled Onni into a hug and whispered, “But you do  _ know  _ I want you, right?”

“I know,” Onni said. “You’ve made that clear in all the ways you could, and no one in their right mind would have ignored all my orders time and again just for the sake of showing me…”

“Including coming to Keuruu in the first place,” Reynir added. That was how familiar this particular ground had become: they even managed to finish each other’s sentences about the matter. It was starting to worry Reynir a little—Onni needed to let it go sometime—but for the moment Onni was relaxing in his arms, a heavy but welcome weight against his chest. “Can you just accept that you are loved? I don’t care what you’ve done or not done or think you’ve done, I’ve seen enough to know that I actually love you. And now that Tuuri’s with Sigrun and Lalli’s with Emil, I keep thinking about how alone you must be. And I know,” he said, laying a hand over Onni’s mouth in anticipation of the inevitable protest, “That your owl is solitary by nature. But  _ alone  _ shouldn’t have to mean  _ lonely _ .”

Instead of arguing further, Onni sighed and pressed a kiss to Reynir’s palm. “Okay.” It came out feather-light. “I’ll try.”

Reynir kissed his hair. “And I’ll help.” That was the compromise they always reached, each time knowing that it wouldn’t come easy. But it was worth doing anyway. Despite the rumors, despite the uncertainty of other people playing on their own insecurities, the two of them had something worth holding onto. 


End file.
